Brave Enough
by Black Lotus 57
Summary: Adopted from the one and only BluBoo. She knew the cycle of abuse from start yet she fail to notice the signs .Now she has to be brave enough to get free for forever.
1. chapter 1

Figure Out The Rest

She had never been wealthy, far from it, she had always been broke. It wasn't anyone's fault, just her luck in life, being an orphan with no money and three jobs. It was simple enough for her, she was a quiet girl, and she didn't need a lot in life. So she worked a waitress.

Now, because she had never been wealthy of with money she had had to save up for everything she desired.

And this was where she was pretty certain she had fucked herself over.

See, it was all because of that dress, that thrift shop dress that was so pretty she just had to have it rather than spending her savings on her earnings like she should have.

Now, while she didn't have money Rin knew she had the wild flower beauty that attracted men.

However, when she had been younger and dumber she hadn't really cared about attracting the men, she had cared about getting by. And that was also where she had probably screwed herself when she thought about it.

Buying that dress had changed her life, the night she had bought it she had decided to go dancing. It was a pretty dress, and it was meant for dancing, she wanted to dance and that was why she had gone out that night. It was fun, and she had unwittingly captured the attention of a wealthy heir who had come to her. Rin wasn't really one to judge people back then, she couldn't care about if a person was human, hanyō or yōkai; and perhaps that was another mistake she had made. But she had danced with the man, and she had laughed in delight that night.

Well, one could figure out where the rest of where this had gone.

A whirl wind romance and she was married before she was nineteen. Everyone thought it to be beautiful, everyone thought them to be the most perfect adorable couple ever created, and she was happy. She loved being around his older sister, she adored the friends she was gaining and she found herself surrouned by kind, loving humans who had a wonderful life. To her it was surreal.

And maybe that was another mistake her young naïve-self had made.

But in her perfect life she had taken the first hit, she had been shocked and stared him in horror, he had promptly apologized, said it was an accident and she shouldn't have been standing there when he swung his arms around in frustration. He had even gotten the ice pack for her jaw. Rin had winced as he helped her, and she had forgiven him. the next day he bought her flowers and jewelry and she was convinced it had truly been an accident.

Now, she was an orphan, she had been through the system and knew the cycle of abuse like the back of her hand. Which was why she was ashamed she hadn't caught on to it.

The next time he hit her he had been drinking to much, she had said no and he had attacked her, taken her painfully and never accepted her no. When he was done with her she slid to the kitchen floor dumbfounded, she had never been sexually assaulted in her life. He just stumbled up to bed.

She grabbed her shit and ran to his sisters.

Now, one would think a sister would be appalled with what was happening but the human woman had only sadly smiled at her and said that as her brother's wife it was her duty to take it then she shut the door in Rin's face.

Rin had returned home and slept in a locked guest room.

When her husband was gone the next day she took a hot bath to ease her throbbing body, then she pulled out the concealer, pulled on her sunglasses and walked to the church to sit in the back as she prayed for a better life she prayed, and prayed, she prayed this wouldn't happen again

Over the course of the next year it kept getting worse and worse, her husband was almost always drunk, and she got very good at concealing the bruises.

There was nothing she could ever do which would please her husband, dinner was never what he wanted, she was never good enough in bed when he took her by force, and she wasn't pretty enough so he covered her in bruises. She was nothing again, and it broke Rin's heart, but she stayed because she truly had nowhere else to go.

However the last night she stayed was the night he pulled a knife on her. He had just beaten her senseless and she had snapped she was leaving him and he couldn't stop her. Stalking up to what had been her room since the first assault she packed a bag. Opening her door she had screamed seeing him there with a knife, slamming it in his face she tried to think of an escape. He broke the door, she screamed when he came at her with that knife. He was laughing manically shouting she was his and his forever and that she would never leave him for the gardener. Rin had run, she had kicked him between the legs, grabbed her bag and run. He tackled her down the stairs, they crashed into the floor, she stared at all the blood coming from him as he lay face down.

Panicking she grabbed her bag, forgot her shoes and ran out the door crying and trying to keep it all together as the rain hit her.

She never slowed, she never as she ran down the street. When she reached the main road she held out a thumb, a delivery truck picked her.

A kitsune who was the first creature to show her kindness by wrapping her up in a dry coat as she cried. He never asked her where she was wanted to go, and she never cared where she went so long as she got a way.

When she woke she found herself in his truck as they drove into one of the yōkai districts and he pulled into a rest stop.

"You're awake," he said. She jolted as she turned to him.

"Where are we?" she asked in a horse voice.

"The Ohtsuka district," he answered. "Someone really did a number on you, didn't they," he said.

"It's nothing," she muttered forgetting that she wasn't wearing concealer to hide the bruises.

"Look, I don't take to seeing girls be beat up so if you're that suicidal about this guy I'm not going to be the one to take you back," the redhead said firmly. She blinked at him and then looked down.

She didn't have anywhere to go, and she was pretty sure she had just killed the man who had been her husband.

"I don't want to go back," she whispered.

"Do you have somewhere I could drop you off then, a safe place?" he clarified to her. she shook her head slowly.

"Alright then, you're a pretty harmless little human so I'll make a deal with you, you can come stay with me for now and I'll help you get back on your feet," he said.

Rin looked up at him through wet lashes then as she sat there trembling.

"And why would you want to help me?" she whispered.

"I don't tolerate girls getting beaten up, I have a little sister and if I saw her like this I'd murder the bastard after I patched her up," he admitted.

"I'll just have to go back," she muttered miserably.

"No you don't, look, you can start a whole new life. He's not that great of a guy if he beats you black and blue," the kitsune pointed out. Rin's lip trembled hearing the truth in his words.

"A wife's duty is to be with her husband," she whispered the words her sister-in-law and husband's words that they had religiously preached.

"No, you're duty is to take care of yourself, so come on, I'll take you home with me," the kitsune admitted. She flinched when he offered his home to her.

"I have a live in girlfriend if that helps matters," he said and she hesitantly looked at him.

"Really?" she whispered.

"Yeah, and she'd kill me if she knew I let you go back to whatever hell you came from," the kitsune said.

"She won't mind?" she asked softly as she hugged the jacket to her.

"Not at all, and her brother might help you get a job," the kitsune grinned and she felt herself soften a bit as she took his offered hand.

"I'm Yamato Shippo," he introduced himself.

"Rin, just Rin," she whispered as they shook. She wondered if she should tell him that she had just killed her husband or not.

"Nice to meet you Rin, now, I need to get fuel and then I'll take you home, Sōten, Raiden Sōten, that's my girlfriend will be happy to help you out, she's a doctor and you humans are surprisingly fragile," Shippo said.

And that was the first laugh she had had in three years as she stared at him with a smile.

"Thanks Shippo," she whispered

"No problem."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"Come on Rin," Shippo said when he opened the door, he held his hands opened and wincing a bit Rin moved her aching body. He picked her up and she was startled when he didn't put her down but rather carried her up into the apartment complex.

"I can walk!" she defended.

"I'm looking at you right now and am honestly surprised you are even breathing, now just shut up and accept the help you fragile human," he ordered. She gaped at him but she did as she was ordered because she wasn't entirely certain she wouldn't be hit for defying him.

The kitsune brought her into an apartment and set her on the couch as he disappeared into his room. Rin hugged herself, and noticed the pain in her feet and ribs for the first time, she also heard her stomach snarl in a demand to receive food.

"Sorry, Sōten will be out here shortly," Shippo said. "She's a resident, so sleep is precious to her. Here, you're human and need to eat often, right?"

"Uh… yeah," she admitted as she took the offered power bar and hesitantly nibbled on it. Her jaw was killing her, but it didn't feel broken as she opened it and shut it.

"Good Kami he did a number on you," Shippo muttered and Rin looked at her lap.

"What is it, Shippo? And who's here?" a woman said. Rin turned her head, she winced at the motion but she didn't care as she looked at the other woman. She had ruby red eyes, fangs, black hair that was sticking up in odd directions, and her heart-shaped face was flushed from sleep. Red and brown looked at one another.

"Good Kami! What happened!?" the woman was around the couch and beside her. Rin winced when the strong clawed hand grabbed her jaw.

"I found her like that last night, Rin, this is Sōten, my girlfriend, Sōten this is Rin, a human running from an abuser," Shippo said.

"We need to get her to the hospital, she could have broken bones or internal injuries we don't know about. Good Kami, what happened to you?" Sōten whispered and Rin looked at her lap.

"My husband," she admitted as she clutched her hands tightly.

"Well, I don't care if you're married to the fucking emperor you're not going back!" Sōten snapped at her which had her looking up to the furious yōkai in shock at someone keeping her. Oh, she knew Shippo had no intentions of letting her go back, but she hadn't believed him completely because he had a girlfriend and most girlfriends wouldn't want a strange girl living with their boyfriends.

"Shippo, call Hiten tell him we need his car, she needs a hospital, and call Koga," Sōten said.

"I…I… I don't want trouble!" Rin sobbed then.

"Oh, you're not in trouble Rin, we're just, we need to talk people, and we need a car that isn't Shippo's truck," Sōten informed her.

Rin couldn't stop the tears as she sobbed. Honestly she didn't remember most of the trip to the hospital, she barely remembered Hiten who looked like a masculine version of Sōten. She didn't really remember the exam, nor did she really remember what the doctors had discussed.

What she did remember was when the Ōkami walked in and she started trembling recognizing his badge. Oh shit! She was going to be arrested, tried for murder and because her sister-in-law would not let her get away she was going to be tossed in jail with the key thrown away.

Rin bit her lip as she stared up at Koga.

"Well fuck, another one Sōten?" Koga asked.

"I agreed to help battered women move away from abusive men Koga, and you know that, you agreed to help!" Sōten snapped.

"Besides, I found her," Shippo said. "And I'm not letting her go back."

"Yeah, yeah, look I need you all out of here while I talk to her," Koga said and suddenly Rin felt very exposed as she hugged the paper gown to herself and stared at the yōkai who pulled up a stool and sat down then.

"Matsuno Koga," he said. "Yeah I'm a cop, but… I'm here to help you," he assured her.

Rin couldn't speak as she started shaking so hard.

"Look, I don't care about whatever happened, I've seen too many girls like you die and I'm honestly here to help you, escape, disappear, whatever," he said.

"I killed my husband," she whispered.

"Name?" he asked her as he pulled out a notepad. She stared at him. "Look, I need your name and his to help you out of this. And it isn't murder if he did this…" he gestured to her. "To you repeatedly."

"Taijiya, Taijiya Kohaku," she whispered.

"Alright, your name?" he asked her.

"Taijiya Rin," she whispered and felt the tears slipping freely from her eyes.

"Alright, does he have family, how about you?"

"No, I'm an orphan," she admitted with a shake of her head. "But he has two older half-sisters, he doesn't talk to one anymore, but the other, Taijiya Kikiyo, she's going to lock me away," Rin sniffled.

"That's not going to happen," Koga said.

"Why not? I killed him!" she cried and he touched her knee, she burst into tears, her life as she knew it was over and she knew it. She was a dead woman walking, and she was only twenty-three! She wanted to live, she had never wanted this mess to come up in her life.

She should have stuck to waitressing.

"Look, until I have an idea of what's going on, nobody is dead, and even if he is dead you're not going to jail. I'll be making the arrangements. Now, since you're a human we're moving you into the yōkai district for the time being, when you're healed up I'll have a place for you to go, and a friend of mine doesn't mind helping women like you out for a bit. He's a bit of an asshole, but he doesn't tolerate women getting beat on and doesn't mind helping them out.

"When you're healed up, and Sōten gives you the all clear you're going to be moved to my friend and he'll give you an identity and job," Koga said.

"Aren't the police supposed to arrest people who commit crimes?" she whimpered.

"Look, you don't have any reason to trust me, but I'm going to ask you to trust our system. We're going to get you out of this, Rin, and besides, you didn't kill anyone until I say you did."

"Now, for the next few months, because looking at those x-rays behind you you're going to be resting up for a bit, you're going to stay with Shippo and Sōten, you won't be allowed out and about and I'll be coming around like I always do to check up on you. It won't be strange for them to have me coming around, I'm a friend of Shippo's afterall. And while you are there you will be staying out of sight, and you won't be leaving. When you're healed up I'll be moving you.

"For now, stay there and stay out of sight. When I move you my friend will have a new identity for you and a job to help you on your feet and if you need to move again he'll handle the arrangements," Koga said as he handed her a card.

"For now, I'm just going to go check up on the Taijiya Kohaku," Koga said as he stood up. Rin stared at the card in her hand and she felt her bottom lip tremble as she bit it and shook.

Finally the gasping sobs consumed her as she sat on that exam table aching and crying and hugging herself as she rocked herself. No one had ever helped her, no one, and now these strangers were and she couldn't stop the weeping as she sat there sobbing.

The tears just wouldn't stop, even as a strong, slim set of arms wrapped around her and she cried into a warm chest as she tried to stop the tears but she couldn't.

She wasn't free, but she wasn't going back and the relief of that was something that had set her free.

Gasping for air she couldn't seem to stop the tears as she clung to the female holding her.

Koga walked into the house of the assault of the up and coming prosecutor Taijiya Kohaku, and the kidnapping of one Taijiya Rin. Kohaku wasn't dead, he had been stabbed in the gut before being thrown down the stairs, at least, that's what his statement said.

"Hey, Matsuno! I don't see you here too often!" Detective Hojo Akitoki looked at him.

"Hmm, oh, hey Hojo," he nodded then.

"So what's a yōkai like you doing here at my human crime?"

"Nothing, the M.O. sounded like a few of the cases I was working," he lied.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, what can you tell me about the victims?" Koga asked.

"Taijiya Kohaku, and his wife of four year, Taijiya Rin were attacked last night by unknown assalents who broke in through the back door, my guess is, is that the Taijiyas were sleeping upstairs, Kohaku heard the noise, comes out, is stabbed with a knife the assaliants grab from the kitchen before he's pitched down the stairs and left for dead.

"Rin, hears the assault, tries to escape in the guest room, but they kick in the door and drag her out. we're thinking she was taken, Kohaku has been working high profile cases lately so more than likely they are going to ransom Rin off," Akitoki said.

"Hn," he grunted.

"What is it?"

"My guys are killing everyone," Koga shrugged, it wasn't a complete lie, he was working an infuriating burglary-homicide where the perps had killed everyone in the house after dragging the wife outside and disemboweling her before her husband and children.

"The search dogs find where Rin went?" he asked.

"No, it rained here last night. Sister came by this morning to the door open and found Kohaku down on the floor, apparently, Taijiya Sango has been residing in the States these last five years and had come home to meet up with her little brother and new sister-in-law and came home to this," Hojo Akitoki explained.

Koga nodded.

"How many sisters does he have?"

"Two, half-sisters, his father has had five wives," Akitoki said.

"I see, who are his sisters?" Koga asked.

"Taijiya Kikiyo, and Taijiya Sango," Akitoki filled in and Koga nodded as he filed the information away.

"Well, good luck," Koga dismissed.

"Hey! I thought you said you were here for a similar M.O.!" the human shouted.

"I was, but my guys like displaying their kills and toying with the victim all night, this ain't them. Similar, but not them," he said the half-truth and walked away then.

Taijiya Rin was in deep shit. That was all he was certain of as he walked out of the crimescene and walked into his car. He turned on the heater as he started driving away. Pulling out the encrypted cell he dialed a number he knew by heart then.

"Hn?" was the greeting.

"Hey, listen I need a pretty huge fucking favor," he said.

"What?"

"We got another one, human, needs the works," he said.

"When?"

"When she can breathe again and not look like she's going to collapse from pain, the bastard fucked her over pretty good," Koga admitted.

"Hn, evidence?"

"She was sleeping in the guest room, it had a heavy duty lock on it, and there were furniture scrapings in the floor from her moving the dresser in front of the door," he explained. "Also, he came at her with a knife, fucker ain't dead but it's a safe bet that if he hadn't fallen down the stairs she would be dead.

"Hn, get a picture when she's healed, I'll arrange everything."

The line went dead then and Koga hid that phone again as he drove back to the Ohtsuka district and mulled it over in his head as to just what Rin had survived.


End file.
